Today, I want to share with you all a delightful recipe for what is perhaps my death row meal (God forbid). Of course I mean the Italian peasant dish of Eggplant Parmigiana.
I am not one who generally loves vegetarian food, but this is one that can be a delight for a Lenten Friday meal or even anytime.
I have a treasure trove of memories tied into this delightful, simple baked vegetable dish. For me, as a boy my favorite day was whenever I could be at my grandparents house as Grandma prepared, fried and cooked the eggplant parmigiana. Many of my paisans can relate to the impish joy of stealing a slice of freshly fried eggplant from Grandma’s platter and being chased out of the room by an angry gray haired Italian woman with a wooden spoon! Anyway, on to the recipe.
Ingredients:
-1 medium eggplant
When selecting an eggplant, look for one that has smooth, shiny skin with few if any blemishes, and try to find one with firm but not hard flesh and err on the side of a medium size to avoid it being overly seedy.
-3 cups or so prepared marinara sauce (more if serving with pasta)
Marinara sauce is simple to prepare, perhaps some time I write a post on making it but the best marinaras have a few simple ingredients. Crushed tomatoes, a couple cloves of garlic, some extra virgin olive oil, a little salt and beautiful fresh basil are all you need to make a delightful marinara sauce.
-Beaten eggs (probably 2 or 3)
-Bread crumbs
You can make your own bread crumbs quite easily by taking some old, stale crusty bread and pulsing in a food processor. Otherwise, store bought bread crumbs work just fine. The old school Italian Americans will remember the 4C bread crumbs available at any grocery store, but I am not sure if they’re ZOGged or not so I prefer to make my own. Alternatively, many good Italian bakeries will make their own bread crumbs for purchase from their day old bread that didn’t sell.
-Olive Oil
Extra virgin olive oil is what I typically use though regular olive oil for frying is fine. You don’t need the extra flavor of extra virgin for this dish but it’s what I typically use because that’s all I really buy. My typical EVOO that I purchase most regularly is the Kirkland Organic EVOO available at Costco.
-Shredded Mozzarella
For this and other baked Italian dishes (including Pizza to be honest) I find the best results come from low moisture whole milk mozzarella as opposed to fresh mozzarella but you can use whatever you like, be adventurous!
-Salt and Pepper
Instructions:
First step is to slice the eggplant in relatively thin slices (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch depending on your tastes). A step you can complete that I think is beneficial but admittedly, my grandmother never did, is to take the sliced eggplant, salt each side and allow to drain some of the excess liquid. This is said to help take some of the bitterness out of the eggplant and also helps to stop the eggplant from soaking up a lot of olive oil when you fry it. To do this, simply lay out the slices on a baking sheet, on a cooling rack to allow the excess liquid to drip off. I typically give the eggplant an hour or so to drain in this way for best results.
*peeling the eggplant is considered optional. I usually leave the skin on, but peeling will definitely help cut down on some bitterness if you find the skin off-putting.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees when you’re ready to proceed.
Next is to dip the eggplant in beaten eggs and then in the bread crumbs.
Fry each eggplant slice in olive oil in a frying pan until browned on each side. Eggplant has a tendency to soak up olive oil when frying, so you will likely use more oil then you’re used to but once browned on each side, set eggplant aside perhaps on a paper towel (gasp) allowing the excess oil to drain out. These sliced and fried eggplant are actually quite delicious in their own right so feel free to sample a slice or two but don’t eat too many!
Take a baking dish and arrange the eggplant in layers. First coat the bottom of the baking dish in marinara sauce, then a layer of eggplant. More sauce, then another layer of eggplant and so on. Most of the time a sufficient dish is made up of 3 layers.
Top the now assembled baking dish with a last layer of tomato sauce and cover with the shredded mozzarella. Bake, uncovered for 30 minutes or so.
Once baking is complete, allow the dish to rest for 10 minutes (maybe even 20 or more) before serving. This rest period will ensure that some of the ingredients will re-settle in the dish. During baking, there is a tendency for the liquid in the sauce and any residual moisture in the eggplant to create a watery consistency at the bottom. If you serve it too quickly, it can have a soupy texture which you will want to avoid.
If you don’t want to eat this eggplant right away, feel free to refrigerate the dish overnight. Like many baked Italian dishes, the flavor in Eggplant Parmigiana will intensify if allowed to settle overnight. For whatever reason, these flavors have a way of marrying each other even more brilliantly when eaten left over or sitting for a night. It’s one of life’s mysterious pleasures but many Italian Americans will tell you that Eggplant Parm or even Lasagna is even better the next day.
Top with a leaf or two of basil and enjoy! Buon appetito amici!